


Little Things

by bloodyrosybutterflies



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22146040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodyrosybutterflies/pseuds/bloodyrosybutterflies
Summary: Remus recalls some of the events that built up his relationship with Sirius.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Kudos: 5





	Little Things

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first fic on this site so I would appreciate any constructive criticism you can give me, let me know what I did well and let me know what I could improve on.
> 
> I also have an idea for another, longer Wolfstar fic so if you like this one let me know and I’ll start writing the other one. If there are any other pairings you would like to see, let me know and I will do my best.
> 
> Last thing, I don’t own Harry Potter or any of its characters, I’ll let you know if I ever morph into JK Rowling. Also, I wasn’t sure of the order of events for this timeline, so I apologize for any factual inaccuracies.
> 
> Thanks!

Remus Lupin didn’t fall in love with Sirius Black all at once, it wasn’t just a glance or an absentminded touch, it was all the little things that shaped their relationship.

It was coming face to face with a huge, black dog in the Shrieking Shack the morning after one of his most painful transformations yet. He regained consciousness slowly and his eyes took in the fuzzy features of the shack before coming to rest on the mass of dark hair that rested its head lightly on his stomach. Remus felt a rising panic in his stomach and his thoughts started racing. What do I do now? I’m too weak to fight it off, it's not like I could take it if I were fully healed anyway… When the dog realized that he was awake, it scrambled to its feet with a look of relief that was uncharacteristic of a canine. Remus tried to back up from where the dog sat but somethings in its eyes made him stop, he could have sworn he’d seen those eyes somewhere before, many times before. He was mesmerized by the silvery orbs that stared back at him until a stick snapped somewhere in the tunnel to his right and the dog padded off to a different exit. Madame Pomfrey made her way into the room just as Remus felt darkness closing in on his vision.

It was waking up in the hospital wing to those same silvery orbs two days later, groggily taking in his friends’ hurried explanation of how they could help with his “furry little problem.” Sirius’s eyes never left Remus’s as Peter explained how they had become animagi in an attempt to lessen the damage of the full moon. Remus felt his chest expand with hope but knew that allowing them to help would be putting them in extreme danger, and he told them as much. If they so much as stepped one hair out of line, the wolf could kill them in an instant, and Remus was not willing to give in to that possibility. At that point, Sirius was fed up with Remus’s refusal to accept their help, “We have not put in all this effort to become animagi, which is illegal by the way, for you to be unreasonable about accepting our help. Can’t you see that we care about you, Remus? If there is any chance we have to help you out, we are going to take it.” After a little more hushed debate, Remus hesitantly agreed to their terms and watched the Marauders explode with joy, smiling softly when Sirus shot him a grin.

It was exchanging gifts with Sirius at the Potters’ house over Christmas break, where all of the Marauders had gathered to spend the holidays. The joy Remus felt when he pulled a large ABBA record out of his present from Sirius was nothing compared to the utter delight that flashed across Sirius’s face when he ripped open Remus’s gift. It had taken Remus a while to find the perfect gift for Sirius, and he had been about to give up when he came across a shop that smelled of old leather and antique fabric; he had been captivated from the very start. One glance into the store and Remus had found what he was looking for: a glossy, dark leather jacket that he thought would go well with the motorcycle Sirius was sure to own eventually. He had been nervous handing the gift to Sirius, but it was soon obvious from his excitement that he had no reason to be. Sirius tackled him in a hug and wore the jacket for two weeks straight, despite protests from Mrs. Potter about the freezing temperatures.

It was holding Sirius as he sobbed over the final letter from his mother, telling him not to bother coming back to Grimmauld Place the next summer. Sirius always hated what his family stood for and constantly found inventive ways to defy Black tradition, but none of them ever expected Walburga to go as far as to disown Sirius entirely. Remus found Sirius on his bed, a piece of parchment crumpled in his fist. Remus didn’t have to ask what the parchment was, he knew that there was only one thing that could make Sirius cry so hopelessly. So Remus didn’t say anything, he simply sat next to Sirius and held him, drawing soft shapes on his back until Sirius had calmed down enough to talk to him. They spoke softly about what to do next before James swooped in like a mother hen with a glass of water and some suggestions while Peter patted him awkwardly on the shoulder.

It was tricking James into eating a box of Bertie Botts with only the worst flavors remaining, Sirius and Remus had put the plan in motion during the school’s most recent visit to Hogsmeade when James had claimed to be able to tell the good flavors from the bad ones with just a glance. From that point on, they had made it their mission to prove to James that he could not, in fact, tell the good from the bad. They spent an evening sniffing out and identifying all of the terrible Bertis Botts flavors to put in one mega box of awfulness. After a couple of well-executed charms, it looked just like a normal, un-tampered with box of Bertie Botts. James elected to pretend that nothing was wrong as he ate the first couple of beans, still convinced that he could pick out the ones he wanted, but his barely contained disgust as he continued to fail sent Sirius and Remus into fits of laughter long after the box was thrown out in anger.

It was watching the jealousy flash across Sirius’s face when Remus stood a little too close to that Ravenclaw sixth year at the Gryffindor Halloween party. Remus had, at that point, decided to crush his budding feelings for Sirius before they grew into something he could no longer control. Remus had noticed the tall, blond Ravenclaw glancing at him every meal since the start of the school year and it seemed as good a time as any to make his move. As they talked, he couldn’t stop his eyes from gravitating towards Sirius, who stood in a group with Lily and her friends on the opposite side of the room. He paused in surprise when he realized that Sirius was looking at him, then was consumed by a wave of confusion as Sirius shot a glare at the guy standing next to him. If Remus hadn’t known any better, he would have thought Sirius was jealous of the attention he was giving the taller boy. It wasn’t until Remus made up an excuse to exit the conversation and head toward Sirius that he was almost positive he had imagined it.

It was hiding out in a broom closet after a prank gone wrong, the Marauders having split up in order to avoid detection. After the explosion set off earlier than expected, the Marauders had sprinted from the scene with Minerva and two other professors right on their tails. It wasn’t long before Sirius pulled Remus by the wrist into the smallest broom cupboard of all time and they were pressed together listening for footsteps in the distance. The air was practically electric and Remus found it difficult to breathe without catching a whiff of rich vanilla and worn leather. Despite Sirius’s grin, Remus finally calmed down enough to listen for their pursuers in the hallway. Suddenly, the doors were yanked open and they stumbled out of the cupboard; James and Peter stood smirking over Remus and Sirius, now tangled together on the floor. Sirius had nervously apologized and pushed himself up, but Remus didn’t miss the encouraging wink James sent the shorter boy’s way as they raced back toward the dormitories.

It was staying up late into the night studying for OWLs until Sirius and Remus were the only ones left in the common room. Sirius had come to him earlier that day for help studying for the history of magic examination and they were still studying long after James had declared exhaustion. They had stayed up so late that the only lights left on in the common room were the two small candle lamps on their table, both boys determined to cram as much knowledge into their heads before the sun rose. Even in his sleep-deprived state, Remus couldn’t help but notice Sirius’s sheer determination as he furiously scribbled notes on a piece of parchment. They had been quizzing each other on need-to-know terms for two hours straight when Sirius finally collapsed on top of the textbook in exhaustion, Remus followed his example less than ten minutes later.

It was laughing together underneath the tree overlooking the black lake; with exams over, the Marauders were free to do as they wished with their time. Lily had parked herself in the lap of a certain bespeckled Marauder and he was having the time of his life, James made joke after joke about the exams they had just endured. Peter dug through his bag to reach more of the miniature fireworks he had bought from Zonko’s during their most recent Hogsmeade visit, the harmless projectiles left behind trails of sparks as they spun lazily toward the lake. On that particular day, Sirius decided to plop his head in Remus’s lap and the taller boy was absentmindedly playing with Sirius’s hair. As the midday sun filtered through the leaves of the oak, James said something particularly funny about the glorious Minerva McGonagall and Sirius had laughed so hard that Remus couldn’t help but get caught up in it. Soon enough, they were all beside themselves giggling.

It was arguing loudly with Sirius in their dorm room over “the incident,” they had been cold towards each other for weeks before the tension came to boiling point right in front of James and Peter. “You could have killed him, I could have killed him! You lead him right to the Shrieking Shack! Why? You could have jeopardized all of the progress werewolves have made in the last century!” “Don’t you think I know that? I wasn’t thinking straight and I don’t know what more it is going to take from you to believe that I’m sorrier than I’ve ever been in my life!” They went on like that for almost an hour until they were both too exhausted to continue. Finally, Remus took a deep breath and mustered all of his remaining patience to give Sirius an ultimatum: he would accept Sirius’s apology, but if something like that ever happened again, Remus would leave Hogwarts and never contact any of the Marauders again. Sirius paled, but it was clear he understood the consequences of his actions; and thus, their newly fragile relationship continued.

It was whispering comforts into Sirus’s ear after a particularly vivid nightmare two months later. Remus had tensed up when he heard the curtains to his bunk move but immediately relaxed again when he realized it was Sirius “C-can I? I h-had…” Sirius didn’t have to say any more for Remus to reach up and tug Sirius gently down next to him, Sirius curled easily into him and Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius in what he hoped was a comforting manner. “It’s gonna be alright, it’s just a nightmare, you’ll make it to the morning don’t you worry…” Sirius’s breathing slowed back to normal until he fell asleep, and it wasn’t long before Remus fell back into his own deep sleep. Remus woke up to James standing over them with his arms folded smugly across his chest, “Pete! Get over here, you owe me five galleons!” “Shove off.” “You wanker.” And just like that, the Marauders were back to normal.

It was holding Sirius back from Severus after he sneered at the fresh cut that carved its way across the bridge of Remus’s nose. “You know Lupin, your mug’s getting uglier by the day, and those scars aren’t helping your case.” Remus was about to just walk away and ignore the comment like he usually did, but Sirius let loose a snarl and started to lunge toward Snape before Remus grabbed his wrist and yanked him back.”Yeah, that’s right,” Snape spat, “keep control of your mutt, Lupin.” When Severus had walked far enough away, Remus felt it was safe to let go of the struggling Sirius. “Why do you let him talk to you like that?” He demanded, crossing his arms and glaring at Snape’s retreating back. “Responding is just giving him what he wants,” Remus said softly. Sirius huffed, “He still shouldn’t talk to you like that.” With that, the two boys headed back towards James and Peter, who were waving at them from the entrance to the Great Hall.

It was stealing glances at Sirius throughout a particularly sweltering day at Hogwarts; Remus was dying slowly in his long-sleeved shirt in order to hide his scars from the rest of the school, but it was clear that Sirius had no problem showing some skin. Sitting next to him in the positively scorching charms classroom was its own type of torture; his shoulder-length hair was held in a bun by his wand, excess strands framing his face, and the top three buttons of his shirt were undone to reveal the top of a chest sculpted by years of quidditch. When they got back to the dorms at the end of the day, they had all shed their shirts completely. Sirius was lying face-up on the floor, shooting the occasional cool blast of air from his wand and being generally attractive when James burst in with four buckets of ice-cold water from the lake. “Thank Merlin.” Remus breathed, dumping an entire bucket on Sirius before taking his own.

It was being tackled to the ground by Sirius in greeting after missing each other all summer, crashing through James’s luggage stacked at the entrance of their usual train compartment. Standing outside the compartment, Remus could hear Sirius coming from a mile away and turned just in time to be knocked through James’s luggage and into the compartment. Remus couldn’t control his laughter as he hugged Sirius back, his chest full of excitement about what their next year at Hogwarts would look like now that they were back together. Eventually, Sirius pushed himself off of Remus and the boys stood up to help James stack his luggage again. The rest of the train ride was filled with James and Sirius’s ideas for their largest prank yet, and for the first time since the previous school year, Remus felt at peace.

It was letting all those moments rush through his mind as he swooped his head down to kiss Sirius full on the mouth, right in front of the entire great hall. Sirius had wound his arms around Remus’s neck to kiss him back just as the Gryffindor table erupted in cheers; soon enough, they were grinning at each other, forehead to forehead in front of all of Hogwarts. And as they made their way to their normal seats next to James and Peter, Remus could have sworn he saw Dumbledore regretfully toss a small bag of coins to Minerva. He smiled again, all was well.


End file.
